Shareholders’ approval to Ambani scions for Reliance Board position

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, October 27

Shareholders of Reliance Industries today approved the appointment of all three children of Mukesh Ambani to the Board, a move which sets in motion a succession plan for the country’s most-valuable company. However, there was slight shareholder resistance to the proposal for appointment of Anant Ambani, whose appointment had been opposed by proxy advisory firms because of his age.

RIL Q2 profit rises 27% to Rs 17,394 cr

• Reliance Industries on Friday reported a 27% jump in its September quarter net profit at Rs 17,394 crore
• The revenue from operations was almost flat at Rs 2.34 lakh crore

As a result, Anant got 92.7% votes while the twins Akash and Isha, got more than 98% of the votes for their Board seats, according to a stock exchange filing of the company.

The three children will get a sitting fee and a commission on the profit earned by the firm. Rough calculations put the cumulative amount at Rs 5-6 crore for each child.

Akash has been working at Reliance Jio Infocomm since 2014 and is currently its chairman, while Isha is driving the expansion of the retail business as an executive director of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. Anant is leading the expansion of energy and materials businesses, especially green energy.

Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani had in August unveiled his succession plan by appointing his three children to the Board of Reliance Industries. The Reliance Board meeting had approved the appointment of his three children — twins Isha and Akash, and Anant — to the company’s Board, which the senior Ambani will chair for another five years. Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita stepped down from the Reliance Board to focus more on its charity arm, but will continue to attend all Board meetings as a permanent invitee.